News for December 2005

Who Do You Think You Are?
New Series of "Who do you think you are?" on BBC2.
The first few months of 2006 will see a new series of "Who do you think you are?" being broadcast on BBC2. This series will research the ancestries of Stephen Fry, Jane Horrocks, Jeremy Paxman, Julian Clary, Sheila Hancock and Gurinder Chadha. Each one is lucky enough to discover interesting personal stories about their family, from soldiers in the First and Second World Wars to a portrait of a family member.
The first series proved to be a hit with the public and as the second series looms, you may be inspired to research your own family tree. Within our website we offer advice on where to begin your research as well as offering to undertake the research for you. Take a look on the left of the screen at the Family History section at what we need to know to research your ancestry as well as the contact forms to enquire or begin research.
19 December 2005

Step into the past at Christmas
How different will your Christmas be from those of your ancestors? Some of the trappings of Christmas today have Victorian roots, such as the Christmas tree itself. Other traditions are far older and would be recognized by our forebears way into the past. The Yule log was not a tasty cake but a vast wooden log, well seasoned, that would burn and warm the household, over the Christmas period. Holly and ivy have pagan associations even preceeding the arrival of Christianity on these shores.
In the sixteenth century kitchen we might encounter the recipe for "three minced pyes of indiffernet bignesse" recently unearthed in a London archive. The mincemeat mixture combined pork and beef with "orringers [oranges], leamons [lemons] and reasons [raisins] of the sun" - which only seems to underline the exotic nature of these fresh and dried fruits. Wassail!
9 December 2005

Family Tree: it's Chistmas time!
It's that festive time of year again, laden with mince pies and Christmas pudding. Christmas offers a fantastic opportunity for those of you interested in your family tree. When the family are all together there is no better time to enquire about your family tree and glean those snippets of informtion that might well provide the answers you have been searching for since last Christmas! Remember that any information you can offer us on your family tree will help us trace your ancestry back, and will guarentee that when your final family tree arrives your money has not been spent duplicating what your relatives already knew. For more information and to enquire about our research, click on Family History in the menu on the left. It is time to start that journey and step into the past.
So this year, why not twin your Christmas Tree with your Family Tree?
7 December 2005